Marching Fire - Arcade Mode Feedback | Forums

[Dajarmarathe]

I like this mode it after the white tier it does start to present a challenge. I do understand the white tier lvl is for new players. I have to agree the fire effect does make it a little hard to see the guard reticle. I also understand you can turn off the effect in options I just don't like to do that because it takes away from my immersion of game. Plus I don't think there was a flame only button so I'd have to loose all effects just to tone down one. Maybe the cure would not be to change the fire but rather change the guard reticle color just a hair while that modifier is on you I think the issue might be trying to see the red with it's flash to time a parry or deflect while the fire is overpowering it. All in all the mode is really fun.

So this leads me to a question due to my experience in the arcade mode. Maybe I just noticed it more here and not in the other modes. The gear score what does it mean now especially in this mode where you don't have perks or if you do have perks I didn't notice them. So here's the story: I was trying out my new Nuxia on the white difficulty walked thru it without any issues. I played for about an hour or so and I was like ok I want a change of pace and went and did some other match types due to the fact I wasn't gaining a whole lot of xp or loot and I kind of wanted to lvl her a little faster. To continue on went to the other matches and ranked up all my white to max lvl six so my gear score was now a total of thirty six. I was like ok now let's go try the blue tier and see what it's like. Progressed thru it got to the finale match of that particular one and could not take down the three vanguards. I was like ok this is challenging and is fine but was getting a little frustrated doing the same fight for awhile and so I left. Then the next day I came back and now my gear score was a little higher and all blues I want to say in the fifty range and had very little issue with it and completed the mission after a couple of tries. I know that there are a ton of variables because I wasn't playing the same mission but the difference was noticeable. I'm just wondering if there are underlying stats still on the gear. Where a lvl 10 is actually a little more powerful then a lvl 6 where stats have increased slightly where it is more of a generic base for everyone and you just took away our abilities to modify said stats or could it be due to you guys tweaking the system between my two playtimes. Will I notice this same difference when I get to the purple tier lvl where as my gear score rises it gets easier to do the missions. I guess when I get there if I notice the same thing i'll add to the posting. Has anyone else noticed something similar.

Have Fun

[Tyrvik]

This mode, whilst it is fun when you have the character for it, is not so when certain enemies you face simply cannot be dealt with if you don't have the counter for it. I understand that all characters are able to be countered but when you have an AI that predicts your movement before it lands, things begin to come into question.

https://imgur.com/a/qD34jhP

This link will show that I play against a Valkyrie and a Conqueror, their modifiers are:

II HP Regenerate
II Respawns

I have:

II Regenerates Shield

On certain maps where I come across these impossible odds, I simply push them off a ledge. But on this one I had to give up after (and I counted) 32 attempts. Tiandi simply does not have the health nor does this modifier regenerate enough shields for me to survive their onslaught. He's not quick enough nor does he do enough damage, meanwhile they can land three or four quick jabs and I am dead.

This was on Heroic, so it's not super difficult. Granted my Tiandi is only reputation 1 but even so, I have a knowledgeable grasp on that hero, you should give us enemies that we can at least put up a decent defense against and eventually come out on top after maybe, 7 or 8 tries. But 32, in my eyes is unacceptable. I'm not sure if you have people testing these Arcade matches with all the heroes to see if it is suitable for you to use all of them.

I am not asking you to make it any less difficult, simply put, give us an enemy we can at least defend ourselves against.

[Capoupacap]

I like it very much but I find the reward extremly poor if you consider the time taken and the "risk" when you play over your gearscore.

For the moment the only reward I have see is a helmet decoration ???

[Uexx-]

BLUF: This mode still needs a lot of love - Preferably a redesign (It feels like it was an afterthought designed by someone who never touched the PVE content).

As is, the Arcade mode is just EVERYTHING BAD about Dominion put into a round with extra modifiers. - I dont want to be ganked by three people with un-blockable attacks while I slowly bleed out in addition to one of them having a full shield on top of a full HP bar. In some instances, the cheese I have to do to win would make you think I was playing in a Tournament...

More often than not, winning feels random, unrewarding, or lucky. Sometimes I start Arcade and I roll through the first rounds without trying, and then the last round is literally impossible. I quit and restart the whole thing and roll through every round without issue until the very last match, then after a few tries end up winning. Other times, one of the middle rounds might take me 10+ tries, while I beat every other round on the first try. - Five rounds is also too many considering the loot given and load screens, three would be better for the rewards given.

The difficulty level shouldnt be so volatile either; it should slowly ramp up and some modifiers should void the use of others; Start with a shield, get HP when attacking, and attacks take less stamina? I might as well be invincible, especially so when I play a class capable of "Infinite Chains".

Since the Heroes arent balanced across the board (and I'm fine with this), the game mode cannot be a "One-size fits all" approach, some modifiers are hard to deal with by themselves, and they further become impossible when supported by specific ones. Likewise, some paired together take all challenge away from the mode. - How many devs played this? What was their win rates? It being hard doesnt mean it's bad, but it being imbalanced definitely makes it less fun.

Also, Why cant I fight a Boss anywhere except Story Mode, and Breach? I dont want to play Breach, nor do I want to be cheesed by other players or AI while fighting a boss.

Technically, this is a PVP mode restricted to AI, just like the 4v4 with the HP/Shield/Attack Buffs. I'm all for a PVE mode, I even beat the story on "Realistic" which isnt saying much I guess, but I really enjoyed the boss fights with "You're a Raider, Legendary", The Samurai, and "Apollo". They added a change, and challenge to the game, but it was fair, and you lost fair. I'd really like more of that "Boss fight" stuff in the game, but with the option to vs them with any hero I choose, even if you had to fight a round or two of regulars first.

I couldnt play the "Arcade Mode" without buying the Expansion, and once I did, it just seemed like this mode already existed with less modifiers, and its definitely not the "PVE Content" I felt the game was missing.
Since I'm not usually one to complain without making a suggestion for improvements:

I would have made a different ARCADE MODE - (Maybe you guys can DLC this mode next for those of us who ACTUALLY liked the PVE content?):

- A SINGLE MATCH (2 player max with difficulty options), The end-goal would be to "Kill the Boss" (You already have some in story mode, and in Breach: reskin/reuse/add more),
- In this mode, you move through 3-4 small "Areas/Arenas" like the "Warrior Trials") and kill some regular AI who may have some FAIR modifiers (unblockable, no guardbreak, HP shield, etc).
- This mode can have bonus objectives for extra 'Steel' just like the "Warrior Trials" ("Get 1 throw, Get 1 Kill with a X hazard, etc. Maybe some require extra matches to collect).
- Beating each area unlocks the door to the next area, (no loading screens - also like in the Warrior Trials) with the boss being in the last area.
- When two players do the mode instead of one, the boss should occasionally call out another random enemy, (Ex: A "Viking Boss" would call out a random viking class, and a "Knight Boss" would call out a random knight class - In solo mode, this extra mechanic would not happen)
- Harder difficulties could be handled as such:
0: Normal Mode - Normal Boss fight, AI is lvl 1
1: Harder - Boss takes 10% less dmg, AI leading up to the boss gain 1 random modifier, Boss gains a modifier* at 50% HP and 25% HP.
2: Harder - Boss takes 10% less dmg, AI leading to boss is lvl 2
3: Harder - Boss takes 15% less dmg, AI leading to boss is lvl 2, AI leading up to the boss gain 1 random modifier. Boss gains a modifier* at 50% HP and 25% HP.
4: Harder - Boss takes 15% less dmg, AI leading to boss is lvl 3
5: Hardest - Boss takes 20% less dmg, AI leading to boss is lvl 3, AI leading up to the boss gain 1 random modifier. Boss gains a modifier* at 50% HP and 25% HP.
*Boss Modifiers shouldnt be completely random, but should be random from a pool of modifiers that have been specifically selected to make the fight challenging but not broken (This modifier pool along with the sub-goals can cycle weekly).

The bottom line being harder difficulties dont simply mean more HP and more boss damage. Harder difficulties only mean fighting the boss takes longer, so you cant cheese, or zerg, you actually need to learn the boss moves, because the fight is going to take more time. Obviously some factors like throws or carries would need to be removed for the boss fights, but it seems completely do-able.

This, IMO would be a more honest "ARCADE" Mode, but that's only my two cents...

[Psydefisch]

the flaming attacks, and me burning make it really hard to see indicators. Not sure how you could fix that, unless you change the fire effect on players

Same problem here.

[GlitchHunter33]

How about an option to automatically reduce gear level to quests recommended level. (can't increase ofc, just decrease). I played with a friend and our gears had different levels, so we had different difficulties on the same quest. Same perks you have still apply, just the gear level is calculated as if you have the recommended one. It should just be a simple checkbox or something similar, and is ignored if the selected character has lower gear level.

Also maybe add a loot bonus if player completed a quest with lower then recommended gear. Bigger the difference, bigger the rewards.

[The_B0G_]

I find that it's also a shame you can't use all heroes in arcade mode, once you start fighting lvl 3 bots, they block, parry and cgb pretty much everything, without the high tier heroes this is pretty much impossible to overcome.

[Tyrvik]

As The_BoG stated above me, here is a video as proof of what we all mean by it.

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Because of the character I play, I cannot put up a fight. The attack indicators only show when they attack, except, they do not have a modifier that hides the indicator from where they will strike. The Conqueror is a defensive character, but he's slow. So you need to time your attacks perfectly with openers and counters. However, you can't do either of that if you go up against an AI that predicts your blows before they land.

The AI on the hardest difficulty have inhumane reactions, players are not used to that due to how much we spend online facing actual people.

I'd like to know if the testers or the team themselves tried the Arcade mode on such a difficulty and actually succeeded.


I have only completed it once, on my Warlord, by pushing all the enemies of ledges because I couldn't land a blow on them. And he is my strongest defense character, one I have played since launch. If that dosen't tell you something, I don't know what will.

[Tyrvik]

Super quick, I tried and was defeated eleven times before I started recording. After I stopped recording, I tried another seven times. I had to eventually quit.

[The_B0G_]

Super quick, I tried and was defeated eleven times before I started recording. After I stopped recording, I tried another seven times. I had to eventually quit.

Your video said unavailable for me, but I know where you're coming from. I made it to the last fight a few times and couldn't complete it no matter how many times I tried.

The time that made me write a post in this thread was when I was using Centurion against Holden the lvl 3 LB bot, I was getting the odd hit in but he was parrying nearly every light and heavy I threw, all parries were followed by impales. Tried about 15 times, closest I came was getting him down to two bars and the fighting I had to do to get that much was pretty sweaty.

I picked HL next try, I beat every match with only dying twice, and I don't consider myself a great HL. It's just the kits, the unblockables and hyper armor are things lvl 3 bots can't defend against so easily, using characters without these options can make winning literally impossible with certain mods active.